"I was very impressed by Vladimir Pozner's knowledge of the chess world. He knew
the ins and outs of chess politics. It was an enormous pleasure to meet him,"
said Ruth I. Haring.

In the 1980s, Vladimir Pozner and Phil Donahue co-hosted a series of televised
discussions between audiences in the Soviet Union and the US. These
“spacebridge” programs were unprecedented in that they gave ordinary Russians
and Americans a forum for connection at a time when there were few opportunities
for direct interaction. Pozner and Donahue reunited after the fall of the Soviet
Union to co-host the weekly issues-oriented roundtable Pozner/Donahue on CNBC
from 1991 to 1994.

Eurasia Foundation brought Vladimir Pozner and Phil Donahue back together to
discuss US-Russian cooperation. Even as US-Russia relations have frayed, Pozner
and Donahue reaffirmed the value of citizen engagement. Drawing on their
historic broadcasts, Pozner and Donahue discussed that extraordinary
breakthrough in the 1980s and reflected on what lessons it might offer today.
Following a conversation with Pozner and Donahue that Marvin Kalb moderated, US
Ambassador John Beyrle, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation,
Anna Koshman, executive director of the Russian Alliance of Independent Regional
Publishers, and Hedrick Smith, author of The Russians, also participated.

Ms. Haring also participated in Eurasia Foundation's two-day conference,
“US-Russia Civil Society Partnership Program: Moving Forward Together" on 15 and
16 November, also in Washington. The conference brought together more than 90
civil society experts from the US and Russia to work out concrete plans for
collaboration. Given the US Chess Federation's priority on Scholastic Chess and
increasing female participation in chess, Ms. Haring participated in the Education
and Youth and the Gender Equity Working Groups.